ALCS: Verlander does his job, offense does not, Red Sox shut out Tigers in Game 3

Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander walks in the dugout after giving up a home run to Boston Red Sox's Mike Napoli in the seventh inning during Game 3 of the American League baseball championship series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

DETROIT — As much as everyone had begun to believe he could again, Justin Verlander cannot do it by himself.

So far in the postseason, it seems like the Detroit Tigers’ starters have all been trying to do that — mostly because they’ve had to, with the offense’s struggles. And they've been almost good enough to carry it off.

Verlander extended the staff’s streak of carrying no-hit bids past the midway point of a game, in the process extending his own streak of scoreless innings pitched until it was snapped in the seventh of Tuesday’s game — in other words, doing his job.

But that wasn’t enough, as the Red Sox won Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, 1-0, reclaiming home-field advantage in the series.

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Mike Napoli’s solo homer in the seventh was the only score of the game.

“Obviously, to give my team a chance to win today, I would have had to throw up all zeroes, and I wasn’t able to do that,” said Verlander, who struck out 10.
“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating, it’s — you know, I think you kind of expect that in this series. It’s just kind of the way it’s going to go. It’s going to be a battle for every single out, every single run.
“And it’s two heavyweights going at it, and if you can’t appreciate this, you can’t appreciate baseball. It’s been an amazing first three games. Tough one today, but we’ll bounce back like we have all year, and hopefully win (Wednesday).”

The series continues with Wednesday’s Game 4 at Comerica Park (8:07 p.m./Fox), with the Tigers trailing 2-1, after dropping Game 3 of an LCS for the first time in seven trips to this round.

“It was 2-1 in the Divisional Series, and we came back, against the Oakland A’s, who are pretty good. There’s no pressure,” Torii Hunter said. “We go out there, we play the game, and we try to come through with the win. I’ll be happy to be 2-2. Can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Maybe a run or two? Too much to ask?

The Tigers had come into the game thinking that Verlander — with the way he’d been pitching — would be perfect tonic to get over Sunday’s disappointing come-from-ahead loss.

Not if they didn’t score for him, though.

“He’s pitching lights-out. He’s pitching like the Verlander of old — the one that I know I hate to face,” Hunter said. “Unfortunately today, we just couldn’t get any run support for him. One run? You gotta score to win, and we didn’t do it.”

It’s not a new thing. The Tigers have given him just three runs of support total in three postseason starts, after his run support in the second half of the season (3.64) ranked 145th in MLB.

“I wish I could tell you the reason, or there’s an answer to it. I have no idea. I don’t know if it’s so frustrating for him. He’s so locked in to making sure he does his job, because he knows if he does his job, that’s the best opportunity for us to win,” catcher Alex Avila said.
“To me, I know if you asked him, he’s got his job to do, and our job is to score him runs. Today, we didn’t.”

When Verlander gave up his first hit of the game, it was the earliest an opposing hitter had recorded a base knock since Game 4 of the American League Division Series. Since that point, the Tigers have been spinning gem after gem.

Here’s how they all ended:
ALDS Game 5: Two-out double by Yoenis Cespedes off Verlander in the seventh.

ALCS Game 1: One-out single by Daniel Nava off Joaquin Benoit in the ninth.

ALCS Game 2: Two-out single to left by Shane Victorino off Max Scherzer in the sixth.

ALCS Game 3: Two-out infield single for Jonny Gomes off Verlander in the fifth.

The ringleader of that has been Verlander, who hadn’t allowed a run this postseason coming into Tusday’s game.

Even when the Tigers lost Game 2 in disappointing fashion, the refrain from the Tigers was, ‘Well, we have Verlander going in Game 3.’ For a guy that had struggled all season, that had to be a welcome sound.

“You know, it feels great to hear that. But I think that the great thing about this team is no matter what happens we can say that about the starting pitcher the next day. Whatever happens tomorrow, we can say, it’s all right, we’ve got Doug Fister going the next day, and then we have Anibal (Sanchez) and then we have Max,” Verlander said.
“We’ve got a starting rotation that’s relentless, and I said that before the series started. Every guy has their unique ability to shut down a team in their own way. Me, Anibal and Max are all power guys and then Doug who very sneakily can shut you down. I’ve seen him strike out nine guys in a row. It’s nice to hear guys say that about me, but I’m just one of the four guys right now.”

But once Verlander did give up that first hit, and eventually the first run, it began to feel like it was going to be hard for the Tigers’ inconsistent offense to get it back. He went eight innings (120 pitches), allowing just four hits and one run, but the Tigers couldn’t capitalize against an equally stingy John Lackey.

“I knew I was going to have to pitch pretty good today. He’s having a great career, great season, great postseason,” said Lackey, who gave up just four hits in 6 2/3 scoreless innings. “The guys came through, the boy (Napoli) took care of me once again. He’s hit some dingers for me, and it was a big one today.”

Napoli’s home run off Verlander was the first postseason run he’d allowed since his blowup outing in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, a streak of 21 innings. (His scoreless streak was 34 innings going back to the regular season.)

The last player to drive in a run off him in a playoff game? His opposing pitcher that night, Barry Zito.

The Tigers had chances to score against Lackey, getting runners in scoring position in the first, fifth and seventh innings, but capitalize on none of them.

“Today, I thought Lackey and (catcher Jarrod) Saltalamacchia were absolutely terrific, game-calling and pitch-making,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “The runs are pretty stingy. This is what it’s about in the postseason is good pitching. Their bullpen came out and did a great job. Our bullpen did a good job today. It’s just terrific pitching and pitch-making.”

They had the optimal situation when leadoff hitter Austin Jackson walked with one out in the eighth, and went first-to-third on a single by Hunter, but Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara took turns striking out Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder to strand the runners there.

“To me, I made myself out. I was swinging at a lot of balls out of the strike zone. I make easy outs. When you swing at balls, you’re not able to have success,” said Cabrera, whose MLB record streak of reaching base in 32 straight postseason games came to an end. “We got opportunities to try to score and we didn’t do our job.”

Verlander did. Didn’t matter. Just like when Scherzer or Adam Wainright, Zack Greinke or Clayton Kershaw have taken the mound in the two championship series — and all lost.

The Tigers are now 1-2 in Verlander’s starts, despite just one run allowed in 23 innings pitched. In an LCS where all three games were decided by one run — a first in the 44-year history of the ALCS — the Red Sox have led for just four of the 27 innings played.

“Game 2 was tough, but today was a great baseball game. I’m not upset at all at how we played,” Avila said. “It’s been a great series, and I’m enjoying the hell out of it. I hope everyone else is, too.”

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.

About the Author

Detroit Tigers beat writer for The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Michigan. Mowery has spent 18 years covering sports, from preps to pros. He’s been honored with more than 25 awards for writing. Reach the author at matt.mowery@oakpress.com
or follow Matthew B. on Twitter: @MatthewBMowery.